At the Opening Ceremony Greek mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa sang "Romiossini" as the Olympic flag was paraded around the stadium. Alfredo Kraus later sang the Olympic Hymn in both Catalan and Spanish as the flag was hoisted.

The Olympic flame cauldron was lit by a flaming arrow, shot by Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo. The arrow had been lit by the flame of the Olympic Torch. Rebollo overshot the cauldron[5] as this was the original design of the lighting scheme.[6][7]

South Africa was allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1960 Summer Olympics, after a long suspension for its apartheid policy. After a close race in the Women's 10,000 metres event, white South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu (winner) ran a victory lap together, hand-in-hand.[8]

After demonstrated in six previous Summer Olympic Games, baseball officially became an Olympic sport. Badminton and women's judo also became part of the Olympic program, while slalom canoeing returned to the Games after a 20-year absence.

Several of the U.S. men's volleyball gold medal team from the 1988 Olympics returned to vie for another medal. In the preliminary round, they lost a controversial match to Japan, sparking them to shave their heads in protest. This notably included player Steve Timmons, sacrificing his trademark red flattop for the protest. That didn't prevent the U.S. team from progressing to the playoffs and winning bronze.

On the 20th anniversary of the Munich massacre and the 500th anniversary of the Alhambra Decree, Yael Arad became the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, winning a silver medal in judo. The next day, Oren Smadja became Israel's first male medalist, winning a bronze in the same sport.

Derek Redmond of Great Britain tore a hamstring during a 400-meter semi-final heat. As he struggled to finish the race, his father entered the track without credentials and helped him complete the race, to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Gail Devers won the 100-meter dash in one of the closest races in history. Five women finished within 0.06 seconds of each other. In the 100 meter hurdles, Devers was a clear favorite to win, though finished in fifth place when she hit the final hurdle and stumbled over the finish line. Voula Patoulidou from Greece won the event.

Jennifer Capriati won the singles tennis competition at the age of 16. She had previously earned a spot in the semifinals of two grand slams at the age of 14.

Two gold medals were awarded in solo synchronized swimming after a judge inadvertently entered the score of "8.7" instead of the intended "9.7" in the computerized scoring system for one of Sylvie Fréchette's figures. This error ultimately placed Fréchette second, leaving Kristen Babb-Sprague for the gold medal. Though immediate protests to FINA were unsuccessful, FINA awarded Fréchette a gold medal in December 1993, replacing her silver medal and leaving the two swimmers both with gold.[12]

Indonesia won its first-ever gold medal, after winning a silver medal at 1988 Olympics. Susi Susanti won the gold in badminton women's singles after defeating Bang Soo-hyun in the final round. Alan Budikusuma won the badminton men's singles competition, earning a second gold medal for Indonesia. Several years later, Susanti and Budikusuma married and she received the nickname golden bride or Olympic bride.

Effect on the city

The celebration of the 1992 Olympic Games had an enormous impact on the urban culture and external projection of Barcelona. The Games provided billions of dollars for infrastructure investments, which are considered to have improved the quality of life and attraction of the city for investment and tourism.[19] Barcelona became one of the most visited cities in Europe after Paris, London, and Rome.[20][21]

Barcelona's nomination for the 1992 Summer Games sparked the application of a previously elaborated ambitious urban plan.[22] Barcelona opened to the sea with the construction of the Olympic Village and Olympic Port in Poblenou. New centres were created, and modern sports facilities were built in the Olympic zones of Montjuïc, Diagonal, and Vall d'Hebron. Hotels were also either built or refurbished. The construction of ring roads around the city helped reduce the density of the traffic, and El Prat airport was modernized and expanded as two new terminals were opened.[23]

Cost and cost overrun

The Oxford Olympics Study estimates the outturn cost of the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics at USD 9.7 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 266% in real terms.[24] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Barcelona 1992 compares with costs of USD 4.6 billion and a cost overrun of 51% for Rio 2016 and USD 15 billion and 76% for London 2012. Average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD 5.2 billion, average cost overrun is 176%.